ANKARA
– A senior commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has declared
on state television, the country’s ballistic-missile program will never stop
under any circumstances and Tehran has missiles ready to be fired.

“Iran’s
missile programme will not stop under any circumstances … The IRGC has never
accepted the U.N. Security Council resolutions on Iran’s missile work … we
are always ready to defend the country against any aggressor. Iran will not
turn into Yemen, Iraq or Syria,” Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh told
state TV on late Wednesday.

The
IRGC test-fired several ballistic missiles on Tuesday and Wednesday, state
media reported. The tests are seen as a challenge to a United Nations
resolution and the 2015 nuclear deal under which Tehran agreed to restrict its
atomic program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

Iranian
officials said the missile tests were not in violation of the deal, which led
to lifting of sanctions in January.

“Iran’s
missile programme and its test-firing of missiles in the past days during a
military drill are not against its nuclear commitments and the nuclear deal
reached with the six powers,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein
Jaberi-Ansari said on Thursday, state TV reported.

The
test-firing of several missiles since Tuesday were part of a major military
exercise that the IRGC said were aimed at displaying the country’s “deterrent
power and its ability to confront any threat”.

“The
missiles were fired from northern Iran and hit targets in the southeast of the
country,” Hajizadeh told state TV.

“Some
of the missiles carried 24 warheads and one tonne of TNT.”

Secretary
of State John Kerry spoke on Wednesday with Iran’s foreign minister about the
test-firing of two ballistic missiles, a State Department spokesman said.

The IRGC maintains dozens of
short and medium-range ballistic missiles, the largest stock in the Middle
East. It says they are solely for defensive use with conventional, non-nuclear
warheads.

– Reuters